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6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, July 11, 1989 @he Pout Perey Hae 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO PHONE 985-7383 FAX 985-3708 Elsewhere $60.00 per year. SingleCopy 50¢ EDITORIAL Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten Editor - John B. McClelland News/Features - Cathy Olliffe News Reporter - Rob Streich BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Accounting - Judy Ashby Billing Department - Louise Hope The Port Perry Star is authorized as second class mail by the ADVERTISING Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. PRODUCTION Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Annabell Harrison ie : Advertising Sales Representative: Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year hid Eminchan Anna Gouldbumn arlene Hlozan Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Ruhl, Heather Jones 2) Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published q@very Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd. Port Perry, Ontario Editorial Comment AH, SUMMER ; 4 appears as if the good old summer has finally ar- rived. Here's a hodge-podge of lazy summer-time snippets of information from the editor's notepad. . Let's just call them light reading for when your relaxing on the patio with ons eye on the bar-b-q, and one one eye on the ice buck- et. Water Street is finally finished, or very close to being finished. Aren't the new sidewalks grand, not to mention that fresh smooth coat of new pavement. Gosh, you can actually drive down that street without jarring your molars loose. Patrons at a fastball game last Thursday evening at the lakefront diamond were treated to more than just than the sound of the ump calling balls and strikes. Seems like a fair number of would-be Indy drivers de- cided it was just the night to "test the rubber" up and down Water Street. : The screeching of tires, the roar of engines, the smell of burning rubber filled the night air. After spending a pot full of money to take the bumps and pot holes out of Water Street, the Township may just have to kick in a few more bucks to install speed bumps to slow some of these guys down. Residents of Scugog who go racing down to the mun- cipal office this week to delve into the financial statements of the candidates in last year's local election are not going to find many surprises. In fact, the candidates who went out chasing your vote were pretty darn frugal when it came to election spending. A large number spent less than $1,000: several oth- ers spent just over $1,000. What is surprising is the fact that they could run for office and spend so few dollars on a campaign. The four candidates for mayor were the (slight) exception. The win- ner spent the most, some $8,000, more than $5,000 of it on signs. We hear a lot these days about how much it costs to run for public office in Canada. Not so, in Scugog. Some people may be critical when they read that Howard Hall spent $8500 on his campaign. That's their right to be criti- cal. More to the point is that in a large, far-flung Township - like Scugog, his campaign was well organized and very aggressive. And he also had an aggressive fund-raising committee working for him, and there is nothing unusual - about that in this day and age. You can't run an effective campaign for any office on a shoe string. Not one of the candidates who sought of- fice in the Township last year came anywhere near spending the maximum allowed under the new provincial legislation that puts a ceiling on spending. Having candidates list their expenses and their con- tributors (if over $100) is a good idea. The expenses are a public document, open for anybody to peruse, and that's a good idea, too. If you want to find out who contributed how much to who's campaign you'll have to take a few moments and pe- ruse the files yourself. Enough said on that. Should our schools operate on a 12-month basis? That's a question school boards all over Ontario, including Durham, are going to study in detail over the next year or two. As with everything there are pros and cons, but as a committee of the Ontario Legislature pointed out in a report (Turn to page 8) Chatterbox by CATHY OLLIFFE > yo Why are we going to other countries for Festival Days inspiration, when we have our own claim to fame right here in Scugog? The wild west, Bahamas, Caribbean, Great Britain--they've all provided us with a lot of fun during the Scugog Chamber of Commerce's mid-summer celebration. But they don't really have much to do with Scugog Township. Why not focus our Festival Days attention on something local? Something that Scugog is already famous for? Something like Ghost Road? Do | come up with brainstorms, or what? No seriously, I've been thinking about a Ghost Road Festival Days for a long time. The other day the idea was reinforced when | received a phone call from a CBC Radio re- porter. The guy wanted to do a story on, what else, Ghost Road. My first reaction was, oh gawd, not again. After all, there's been reporters from all over Ontario flocking to Scugog Is- land like crows flock to corn fields. There was a group of Niagara College film students, who did a documentary about Ghost Rd. The Ottawa Citizen sent a reporter and a hotographer to do a full-page feature story. he Toronto Star was in this office not too long wanting information about our most fa- mous Space. And then a couple of days ago, the CBC called. You can't buy this kind of publicity. Ask any- one who has organized any kind of event that requires media coverage. It ain't easy. Big- time reporters are naturally a little reluctant to travel to faraway places like Port Perry. But Ghost Road, without any help from anybody, has become a major media attraction. As a result, people travel from all over to witness the ghost for themselves. But despite the amount of press fovSrags, and despite the number of people who are in- terested in the ghost, Scugog Township hasn't done anything, really, to promote our ne ee ee a GHOST ROAD FESTIVAL DAYS biggest "claim to fame." None of the stores in Port Perry sell Ghost Rd. t-shirts. None of the tourist brochures include Ghost Rd. as a point of interest. Why? On one hand, | can appreciate the com- plaints of residents who live in the vicinity of Ghost Rd., which can become a noisy party place on most summer weekends. Doubtless, they don't want any more cars on the road than there already are. But the partyers have already established the road as a hang-out--and nobody's profit- ing on their devotion. Why not police the road a little better (to keep out booze, drugs and noise-makers) and promote the heck out of our most infamous at- traction? To start with, let's make next year's Festival Days, "Ghost Road Festival Days." The possi- bilities are endless. First, and most obvious, are bus tours to the Island, run every hour on the hour, with someone like ghost expert Allene Kane as tour guide. Port Perry's downtown could be done up in a Hallowe'en theme, with plenty of t-shirts, buttons and ghostly paraphenalia for sale. Restaurants could feature such culinary de- lights as Bat's Blood Soup and Ghost on a Bun (whatever--get creativel). The Latcham Centre could become a haunted house. Elvira could be the main at- traction at the Festival Tent. If organizers worked hard enough, they might be able to et Rick Moranis or Bill Murray or someone rom Ghostbusters to make an appearance. Fortune tellers and psychics could line the streets--Port Perry could become a real occult centre for three or four days. It would be fun! It would be exciting! And, most of all, it would be promoting something Scugog is already fa- mous for. Think about it for next year. In the mean- time, get out there and enjoy Great Britain! RC ----